Physical space
Please read this article.
- Start taking notes from the moment you begin to see the museum as you walk up to it from the street. How does the museum building relate to its surroundings? Is it similar, different, larger, smaller than the urban fabric around it?
- What is the exterior interior like? Is it decorated? Can you tell what style of architecture it is? How does it relate to what you see inside?
Although I didn't feel special before entering the museum, I felt that here is museum when entered the museum because the lights are dark, the carpet is chic and concierges are elegant.
- What is the entrance lobby to the museum like? How does it shape the beginning of your museum visit?
The lobby is quiet and I feel that is elegant because carpet and ceiling's color are dark brown. Also there is not so many objects and it is a neat lobby.
- Who is attending the museum? What is the general atmosphere like?
- How are the galleries organized? Why do you think the galleries and exhibitions look the way they do? (Think about wall color, lighting, interior arrangement etc).
I think that Gogh and Gauguin are famous, so a lot of people come to this museum at one time. If the pictures are set to the wall at short interval, visitors couldn't watch it so much and there would be busy. Also if the pictures are set at short interval and we watch two pictures at one time, we couldn't concentrate on one picture. That's why each pictures are set to the wall at regular intervals I think.
- How is your object displayed? What other objects is they near to, and why?
- Draw diagrams or pictures to help you remember the layout of the museum and exhibition rooms.
What is being shown
Form
- Note textures and the quality of the surface of the work. What adjectives could you use throughout your analysis? Eg. shiny, dull, had, soft, rough, smooth.
- How does the artist use line, color, light and shadow? (See the first few pages of your Stokstad survey textbook for explanations of these terms under “Formal Analysis”)
- What about the composition? Is it balanced, symmetrical, asymmetrical? Why?
- How big is the work? How does size affect your reaction to the work? How does size affect the depiction of the subject?
Context
- Read the label – what can we tell from the label? Look for the artist’s name, the media/materials used in creating the work, and when and where the piece was made.
- Where was the work originally meant to have been seen, and how might the current context in the museum be similar or different? What might it have been like to view the work in its original context?
- Where is the viewer meant to stand in relation to the work? Is there one viewpoint or multiple viewing points?
- Identify the subject matter. Be certain to describe all of the components depicted. Is this artwork telling a story? Is it religious or mythological?
Why
- Why this piece and why this place?
Visitors
- Who is there?
- What are they doing with their bodies?
- Body Movements: Some people were crossing their arm.
- Face expressions: The people who came to here were expressionless faces. On the other hand, the people who came with friend or family were talking and smiling.
- Language – Behavior: Almost all visitors didn't talk about anything just watch the pictures carefully. Some people were listening to the anounnce guides, so they were nodding.
- Transcribe and translate a three minute conversation that you hear people having in or out of the museum.